A Love for Vengeance
by Ilyce V. Mairenne
Summary: A sequel to Knight For a Princess. Set and told similarly, but with Duzell as the 'star', who discovers his feelings for Ishtar on a night of contemplation. Can be standalone. Oneshot IshtarxDuzell.


"Vampire Game" character, story, and plot are (c) Judal.  
This story, however, is (c) Ilyce V. Mairenne

Author's Note: The bold is the dream, the italics is thought, regular is narration (as usual).  
It takes place chronologically after "Knight for a Princess",  
and there's a third one-shot to wrap up both of these that will come chronologically after this one.

Read and review please!  
Comments on how to improve would be very much appreciated!

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**A Love for Vengeance**

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****

It's dark. He's in a long hallway - more like a maze than anything else. There's a torch in his hand, but it's coming to its last bit of light. Bodies are scattered along the floor, in his path. The scent of blood is pungent in the air. Almost suffocating. Little matter though - he ran on, following one scent. There was something - no, someone he had to find!

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"Uuuhggac-" The kyawl wakes up clawing the air for breath. Something very heavy lies across his chest, restricting not only his movement, but also his breath: Ishtar's leg.

_When did I come in here?_

Struggling loose while trying not to accidentally scratch the sleeping girl, he carefully wiggles out. Free at last, he sits there for a moment, gasping and simply regaining the breath he'd lost crushed under the princess' leg.

_Why does that always happen when I sleep with her?_

Annoyance crosses his face as he regards the ungraceful form of the resting princess. The sheets only half on, legs spread out wide, arms wrapped around a pillow, mouth open. A form unbefitting royalty. For a moment, he pauses to wonder if Phelios had slept in a similar fashion. The two were so similar after all...

_Why the heck does he come to mind? I already know she's not Phelios! Why am I even thinking about the form she sleeps in? I should be focusing on today's plans! What's wrong with me?_

The kyawl shakes his head vehemently, as to clear it of all the idiotic thoughts stored up inside. Glancing at the cause of the confusion though, he can only sigh.

_You're so vulnerable like that, Ishtar... Even with the curtains, the high balcony, and the guards outside, I wonder if you're really safe at all. If something happened..._

He pauses, dropping the corner of the coverlet he'd been dragging to cover the sleeping princess.

_If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself..._

He shakes his head again, his frown intensifying. A dark look overshadows his eyes as he gently paws his way to the edge of the bed, leaping beyond the drapes of cloth hiding their mistress from the frights of the night. From his native element... Yet though the moon still hung low in the sky, it's impossible to for him sleep.

_What's happening to me? Have I stayed with the princess for too long? Have I forgotten my original purpose for being here? Though the possibilities have lessened, and it's near the end... So why do I keep thinking of the very beginning?_

He sits before the glass doors leading to the balcony, looking at night sky he has now seen many times from the exact same view. Yet the stars look somehow colder and more distant, just tonight. Their glow is chilly and dimmed, as though they're bored with their lives as guiding lights to be gazed at from afar for aesthetics. As though they desired some purpose in their almost immortally long lives. Immortal boredom.

_They're reflections of me... Of how I once felt._ A wry smile appears. _Bored enough to try to conquer the world. And I would have too, if some morally headstrong idiot wasn't willing to sacrifice himself to save humanity! I could pop a blood vessel just thinking about it!_

With Phelios' face though, came a pair of emerald green eyes, and long flowing black hair, and a smile that accepted him for all he was, vampire blood and all.

Ishtar herself had been a bit distant too though, recently. She confided to him less, and he often caught her lost in thought, looking at Darres, looking at the kingdom, looking at her clothes, her ruelles, etc. She sighed more too, as though there were matters of the heart bothering her. There hadn't even been any escapes recently! She was acting very much unlike herself. Perhaps she was finally accepting the role of queen, yet he can not help but think of Ishtar he first met, the one he had fallen in l-

His eyes snap open in shock at the thought.

_What the heck was that? Did I just- Was I just- Arrgh!_

Frustrated, the kyawl bangs his head against the glass, a scowl on his face at his idiocy. The action only serves as a reminder though, of similar reactions to his behavior because of Ishtar, the earliest being at La Naan, when he'd forgotten their purpose and not taken the chance to bite Seiliez.

_Heh. Already then, she was rubbing off on me, wasn't she? But no... There was something about her that influenced me, even earlier, when she first..._

The words come back to him, like they did many other times of contemplation.

_"I have no parents, brothers, sisters... nobody. What little family I do have is either trying to kill me, or trying to put a ring on my finger just to get their claws on the thrown. To my subjects, I'm a way to maintain Phelios' bloodline. Nothing more. In other words, I don't really care about anyone else besides myself, and that's pretty much how it's always been. So, I promised myself that if I ever found something I truly cared about... I'd take very good care of it."_

_"I care about you."_

He'd just looked at her afterwards, seemingly indifferent, while confused within. There was a pause. A silence. A lull. Just a moment, of contemplation. Of looking into those green eyes he'd copied onto his own features. She probably didn't think much of his reaction, nor would she have reason to... But after that, there were nights when he'd stayed up, just looking at her and wondering...

_Though she'd said that she never really cared about anyone, the more I learn about her, the less truth the statement has. She really isn't as unselfish as she tries to make herself seem... And without me ever asking, she gave me her trust... so I accepted. Yet even after I revealed my true identity, she didn't change her affections. What a strange girl, but still, I feel this warmth inside when I'm with her, like I'm embarrassed yet... comfortable. Could it be lo-_

More banging ensues the thought, as contemplation runs in circles around a four letter word. He pauses though, sighing, allowing the long suppressed memory of what he'd said of the subject when he was still the Vampire King Duzell.

_"I will have my fill of love as soon as I find someone worthy."_

Lightly, he pads back from the night and to the sleeping princess. After a moment's hesitation, a few words are muttered and he regains his original form.

_Have I found what I sought? Is it her? Have I at last found someone worthy? But..._

He draws back the curtains with a hand, to gaze upon the innocent face he looked upon so often before, reaching out to bring a few long strands of ebony to his lips, reveling in her taste and her scent.

_...the real question is..._

Slowly, as not to startle her, he bends over, delicately lifting her chin...

_...whether she..._

...and affectionately kissing the pair of ruby lips.

_...loves me._

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**  
There, there indeed was Phelios, but there was a more urgent matter at hand. Yes, he couldn't stop now! He had to find that person... Someone very close to him, very close to his heart... He must find her - Princess Ishtar!**


End file.
